While waiting in a large pharmacy recently I started looking at the packaging on the products. Every one of the estimated 10 000 items was packaged – some in a single material other in up to five materials. This piqued my interest so I took a course in Sustainable Packing through EdX and Delft University.
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Smart Waste is a waste management company with a national footprint which specializes in recycling on site, the smart recycling solution. We manage the entire waste stream outsourcing the collection functions so as to concentrate on the core service of recycling. Our services include: recycling on site, arranging the collection and sale of the recyclable
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Waste is the dirty toilet which is not talked about in polite company. Everyone knows their toilets need to be cleaned but they would rather someone else does it. So why – if you don’t want to talk about it – do you want to read about? If one starts to think about waste as
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What do babies and shopping centres have in common? They both produce waste – continuously. Someone has to clean up that waste, a necessary but thankless job. Like a caring parent Smart Waste takes care of the waste at shopping centres so that they are clean and healthy. While customers go in through the front
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‘Recycle at source’ is one of the mantras of recycling. But what does it mean and does it serve a purpose? It is a little bit like unscrambling an egg – once it is broken it is almost impossible to fix. Recycling is a volume driven business based on low margins – especially since China
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Whilst South Africa’s waste industry is massive in terms of job creation the recycling industry will soon be bigger. A mere twenty years ago there was no recycling industry. Now it appears that, in terms of employment, it will soon be bigger than the waste management industry. Few people are aware of the difference between
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We seem to be winning some battles but have we already lost the war? If one believes the pilot of a mini submarine the plastic waste is now lying on the bottom of the ocean. Apart from the environmental damage this is causing, the danger is that nano-plastic particles are now in the food chain.
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Despite having been around for many years recycling is still in its infancy. It is growing strongly and although it follows overseas experience in some respects, I believe we in South Africa will ultimately develop our own African model. How will this model look and how will recycling look in 10 and 20 years from
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As long as mankind continues on its present path there will be waste – most of us love the toys and we consume way more than we should. And for long there is waste there will be a need for a recycling service. Recycling separates the general waste from the materials, which although they may
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Question – how far will retailers go to satisfy the needs of their customers? Would they, for example, give up retail space for recycling? In Sweden they do; in South Africa I think that is still a long way off. It is trite that shopping centres are constantly evolving to satisfy the needs of their
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